Cryo’s 1996 game
Versailles 1685: A Game of Intrigue definitely puts the “edu” in edutainment.

The game was primarily developed to
recreate the look and feel of the palace during the reign of Louis XIV in the
late 1700’s. The level of detail in the palace rooms and grounds is fantastic,
although this detail comes at a price – play is restricted to narrow pathways
within each location. The gameplay almost feels like a secondary element to
Versailles – there is a lot of running back and forth between locations, and the
puzzles, although sometimes engaging, are never difficult. The game does have a
great classical soundtrack, if you’re into that style of music.

Let’s face it – looking around is
supposed to be part of the lure of this game. My wife and I found it fun to
recall our visit to the palace almost ten years ago. Take your time, and
immerse yourself in the characters, the music and the architectural splendour.
Look at the paintings, and read the descriptions of the people and places. And,
if all of this sounds tremendously boring, I suggest looking elsewhere for your
kicks.

The
Great Pamphlet Crisis of 1685

You play the game as Lalande, a
valet of the King’s bedchamber. The start of the game finds you meeting with
Bontemps, the First Valet de Chambre. He reads to you from an incendiary
pamphlet that has been left in the palace. The anonymous author threatens the
security of Versailles and the King. Bontemps entrusts the investigation of
this matter to you (yes, a rather dubious plot point). You must complete the
investigation over the next 8-hour day, or face the possible destruction of
Versailles.

The game is structured around the
seven periods of the King’s day from morning to night. Act I: Waking the
King finds several of the King’s closest family members gathered in his
bedchamber to greet him as he wakes.

Gameplay begins in the King’s
Chamber. You can read a description of each room by bringing up your inventory
(with a right click), and clicking on the button on the far right. You’ll also
note that by clicking on the question mark cursor on each character takes you to
a description of that person (this is handy since you don’t get to know any of
the characters well enough to recognize them by sight). Click on the small blue
arrow in the bottom right corner of the screen to return to the game.

Movement is quite simple – the grey
upright hand will change to a white pointing hand when you can move in a certain
direction. Once you’ve read about the room and the characters here, leave via
the only door accessible to you (to the right of the windows).

The next room is the Bassano
Antechamber. There is a guard posted beside the door you just came through;
click on his head to converse with him (the mouth icon signals that a
conversation is possible with that character). The guard will not allow you
back into the King’s chamber. Note also the pictures on the wall – a click on
each will show a close up of that painting, and a second click will reveal the
title and artist.

Click on the painting above the
fireplace, and then click on the urns in the close-up view to search them. The
second from the right contains a key – a click will place it into your
inventory. Click on the down-pointing hand icon to back away from the picture.

Fetch-a-sketch

Several gentlemen are conversing in
one of the corners of the room. Click on either of their heads (the ear-shaped
icon indicates you can listen in) to hear their words. Now exit the room via
the door located to the left of the windows. This takes you into the First
Antechamber. Le Brun, First Painter to the King, is admiring a painting hanging
on one of the walls. Once he stops speaking, engage him in conversation.

Le Brun is obviously unhappy and is
looking vexed – point that out to him to learn that his sketches for today’s
work have been stolen. He suspects his rival Mignard, but has no proof. Agree
to look for the sketches as part of your duties for today – and Le Brun leaves
to await your success in the Salon of War.

Exit the First Antechamber via the
doors in the far corner – you are whisked down a flight of stairs into a
darkened room. Click on the curtains to open them and light the room. Now
click on the second closet to the left of the window to open the doors, and
again on the fifth drawer from the top to reveal a pair of scissors. Take the
scissors and close the door again. Now open the second closet door to the left
of the stairs, and open the sixth drawer from the top to reveal another
pamphlet. This one rather obliquely takes a shot at our friend Le Brun, and
mentions a message that will be revealed by combining a sketch with the colour
that dominates the King’s Salon.

See
the Light

Place the document into your
inventory and return through the First Antechamber to the Bassano Antechamber.
Now proceed through the doors to the right of the windows. This transports you
up a spiral staircase – at the top, continue down a short corridor to a small
room with a writing table and a trunk. Use the scissors from your inventory to
unlock the trunk, and grab the paper inside. Click on the table to get a
close-up, and holding the paper from the trunk, click on the candle’s flame to
reveal the secret message on the parchment ‘The Hawk and the Little Birds’. You
can also click on the inkwell – it spills across the paper on the desk – and
take the paper into your inventory.

Leave the room and return to the
Bassano Antechamber – the doors to the King’s Chamber are now open, allowing you
to enter once again. Speak to the usher who has moved to another door in the
Chamber – tell him you must report to Bontemps immediately, and he will let you
pass. Act II: From Rising to Councilnow begins, showing
the King conferring with his “posse” until it is time for Council. The game
returns with you in the King’s Salon.

Good Times with Bontemps

Confer with the guard again – the
King is in Council session and cannot be disturbed. Flip around and listen in
on the conversation about the rivalry between the artists Le Brun and Mignard.
Remember the anonymous note mentioning the colour of the King’s Salon – the
walls in here are beige with a lot of gold trim.

Return to the King’s Chamber, and
approach Bontemps, who is standing by the left side of the bed. He has an
important errand for you – to inform the Marquise de Maintenon that the King
will be working in her rooms in the afternoon. Enter the Bassano Antechamber,
and proceed to the First Antechamber. Now proceed through the doors on the
right into the Guard Room. There isn’t much going on in here, so exit the doors
straight ahead, and approach the guard standing in front of the doors ahead of
you.

The Marquise’s guard will not let
you deliver the message in person, but he will deliver the message for you.
Attempt to leave this room, and the game suggests showing a clue to the guard.
Return to the guard and show him Pamphlet A – he gives you another pamphlet that
he has found this morning, complete with some sort of number code at the
bottom. File this away in your inventory, and return to the King’s Chamber via
the Guard Room, First Antechamber and Bassano Antechamber.

Speak to Bontemps again, and show
him what you’ve found. He basically tells you to keep looking. Don’t be
concerned if your secret messages and pamphlets begin to disappear from your
inventory – you will get summary documents later in the game that make the
collection of these items unnecessary.

Once you are finished with Bontemps,
click on the closet to the left of the bed to open the doors. Grab a candle and
place it in your inventory, and snatch the large key from the shelf below. Now
return to the Bassano Antechamber. Use the large key to open the two cabinets
in this room. The left one is empty, but the right one contains a…gasp…
sketch-book. Rifle through the sketches, and close up the cabinets again.

A
Portrait of the Artist as a Fussy-pants

Leave the Bassano Antechamber via
the door to the right of the fireplace, and enter the Hall of Mirrors.
Apparently this is where the toadies of the King’s court hang out while he’s
doing some work. Listen in on the conversation that the Princesse de Conti
(pink dress) is having with the stranger. There’s another conversation to
eavesdrop on (a cardinal and a woman in a purple and gold dress) as you make
your way along the Hall. Enter the Salon of War at the far end of the hall of
Mirrors.

Turn to your left to see Le Brun
waiting for his sketches. Try and give him the sketches – he has a hissy fit,
claiming that they are not his work, and gives them back to you. Huh?

Return to the King’s Salon (you can
enter this room directly from the centre of the Hall of Mirrors), where the
Monseigneur accosts you about the sketchbook. Let him know that you though the
sketches were Le Brun’s, but the artist refused them. Give him the sketches –
he quickly determines that the top one is a planted forgery, while the ones
underneath are legitimate.

Return to the Salon of War, and
give Le Brun the altered sketchbook. He thanks you profusely, and gives you the
fake sketch to keep. Now test the directions in the pamphlet by grabbing the
sketch from your inventory, and clicking on Le Brun’s palette. Pick up one of
the brushes to the left, and dip it in the gold coloured paint (the only other
choice available, red, is not present in the King’s Salon). Now click on the
sketch above to reveal a new message – “The Ducks and the Spaniel”.

Return to the Hall of Mirrors, and
speak with Bontemps, who is standing to the left as you enter. Show him the
sketch – he is pleased at your progress, but must attend the King as he leaves
Council.

Ye
Gods!

Act III:
Form Council to Mass has Louis XIV addressing his extended court,
and going to Mass before dinner. You begin the game again in the Salon of
Abundance, just outside the door to the Chapel. The guard won’t let you in, so
approach the other guarded door and speak to the attendant. The King’s Cabinet
of Curiosities lies beyond the door, but you must have a note from Bontemps to
gain access

Exit this room and enter the Salon
of Venus. There isn’t much going on in here, so exit the room via the door in
the wall across from the windows. You arrive at the top of one side of the
Ambassador’s Staircase. Descend the staircase to the landing with the water
fountain, and continue up to the other side. Now turn to your left, and listen
in on the conversation between Marquise de Montespan and the playwright Jean
Racine.

Turn around and enter the door at
the top of the stairs to enter the Salon of Diana. Is that something on the
billiards table? Pick up the billiard cue, and exit the room via the door to
the left of the windows. The next room, the Salon of Mars, contains two
cabinets along the wall with the windows. Examine each cabinet in turn; each
has two drawers that open, however all are presently empty. Note the gentleman
standing in one of the two musician’s galleries – this is Lully, the Court
Composer.

Exit this room via the door to the
left of the windows, and enter the Salon of Apollo, the King’s de-facto throne
room. Walk towards the right side of the throne, and examine the wall here to
reveal a concealed door that is presently locked. Return to the centre of the
room, and exit via the door to the left of the windows. This exit takes you
back to the Salon of War, now minus Le Brun. Turn towards the scaffolding, and
examine the paper near the floor. Take the blank piece of paper, and the
charcoal stick as well.

Finding the Keymaster

Now return to the Salon of Apollo
and ask the guard about getting access to the concealed door. He indicates that
another Swiss guard has the key. Return to the Salon of Diana, and speak to
the guard here – same answer. Walk out to the Ambassador’s Staircase, descend
the stairs to the bottom, and speak to the guard by the door leading outside.
Bingo! Get the key from the guard (don’t be too impertinent), and return to the
Salon of Apollo.

Approach the door, and use the key
to unlock it. Once though the door, you find yourself in a back hallway. Turn
to your left, and proceed down the long corridor. Enter the musician’s gallery
through the door ahead. As you walk in, watch the gentleman out in the main
room place something in one of the drawers of the right-hand cabinet – we’ll
have to stop by there next time through.

Examine the sheet music on the
stand in front of you. Keep turning pages until you find a planted one. Place
it in your inventory, and move forward towards Lully. He doesn’t want to speak
to you, but is intrigued by the coded sheet music you show him. He needs time
to decipher the code, so agree to perform some busywork for him. He needs some
information from Racine about the words of the song he is composing.

Time for Some Busywork

Return to the Salon of Apollo, and
enter the Salon of Mars. Examine the right cabinet and retrieve another small
key from the bottom drawer. Now to find Racine, whom we last saw by the
Ambassador’s Staircase. Enter the Salon of Diana, and return to the Staircase.
Approach Racine and ask him about the lyric.

Once you have the proper answer,
return to the Salon of Apollo and take the back hallway to the gallery.
Approach Lully, and give him the information. Unfortunately he has not finished
decoding the music. He has another question for Racine, so return to the
Staircase, and ask a peeved Racine about the second question. Once answered,
return to the gallery and give it to Lully. He is pleased, and gives you back
the decoded music, which displays the message “The Cat and the Rats”.

Return once again to the
Ambassador’s Staircase, descend to the bottom, and proceed straight ahead to go
outside. Move towards the front gates, and turn to your left – you should see
Bontemps standing off in the distance beside an archway. Show him the sheet
music, and then hit him up for a note to enter the Cabinet of Curiosities.
Before going back in, move beyond the front gates of the palace, and listen in
on the conversation between two Ministers in front of the building off to your
right.

Making Some Coin

Go back into the palace, and return
to the Salon of Abundance. Show the guard your note, and he will let you pass
into the closet. The room contains a table with a front drawer. Click the
drawer to open it, revealing a coin collection (ho hum). Place the blank piece
of paper on top of the collection, and use the charcoal to create a reproduction
of the images on the coins. Take the reproduction, and exit the room.

Travel to the Salon of Diana, and
show the reproduction to Monsiuer (who’s been hanging out by the billiards table
for a while, probably looking for that cue we stole). He identifies each person
on the coins, and points out the odd one out, putting some annotations directly
on the drawing for us.

Exit this room and travel to the
Salon of Apollo, where the Marquis de Croissy is currently stationed. Show him
the coin reproduction, and he notes the presence of a hidden message here. He
suggests that we give him the document to take back with him to his office,
where he will decode it for us. We must however bring him some lunch.

Proceed back to the Salon of
Abundance, and speak to the Swiss Guard stationed in front of the Chapel door.
The King is ready for his dinner.

My Dinner
With Croissy

Act IV:
Dinner has you relocated to the Guard Room while the King chows
down on a number of chickens. Ask the usher just how much the King has scarfed
down. Apparently Bontemps isn’t available for 15 minutes, so exit the room via
the door opposite the usher, and enter the Queen’s Staircase via the chamber
outside the Marquise de Maintenon’s rooms.

Descend the staircase to the
landing, and turn around to face the Blue Boy behind you. The boy is holding
some sort of pie (umm...tourtiere) – click on the pie to grab some lunch for
Croissy, as he requested. Now walk to the bottom of the stairs – you
automatically are transported outside of the palace. Croissy’s office is
located in the Minster’s building, so walk outside the palace’s gates, turn to
your right, and walk towards the building ahead of you (this is where you
overheard a conversation between two Ministers earlier).

You are taken to a landing with two
doors. Turn to your left and enter the room ahead. You’ll see Croissy standing
by his desk – offer him the lunch you’ve brought, and he’ll leave the
half-finished decoding on his desk. Click on the desk for a close-up, and click
on the quill to place it in inventory. Now grab the quill and click on the
paper to the right of the building plans.

We are shown a close-up of some
latin-looking words that Croissy has written out. Note that by clicking on
various letters above, we can spell out words below. But which letters do we
choose? For the answer, look at Pamphlet B again, and note the message at the
bottom: The 1-7-5-12-11-13 the 31-25-26-17-20. All you have to do is to count
the number of letters from the start of the words on Croissy’s page, and click
on that letter to have it shown below. The corresponding message should read: F
O X A N D C R A N E.

Leave the map of the fortress for
later, and back away from the desk. Examine the bottom-left corner of the wall
opposite the door until you find a hot spot. Click to retrieve another
inflammatory pamphlet. This one mentions something about money spent on
fortresses. Return to the landing, and try the other door across the way – its
locked. You’ll have to return to the palace to consult with Bontemps.

Getting a Date

Walk back to the palace entrance,
up the Queen’s Staircase, and to the Guard’s Room, where Bontemps is standing to
the right of the fireplace. Show him the new Pamphlet “D”, and Bontemps makes
arrangements for you to gain access to the other Minister’s office. Exit the
palace again, and return to the Minister’s building. Click on the door to the
right of the window on the landing to enter the other office.

There is a spyglass set up on a
tripod by the window – click on the spyglass to place it in your inventory.
Spin the globe by the desk for some fun, and the click on the desk itself for a
close-up. Open the drawer at the front of the desk, and take the piece of paper
in it listing the names of three places (or names, or something else). Now
examine the base of the wall opposite the door – you will find a loose panel
that swings open to reveal a combination safe.

Since we don’t have a clue as to
what combination will open the safe, except for the three names, return to the
palace again to consult with Bontemps. When you get back to the Guard Room,
listen to the conversation between the two royals – they mention a battle called
“Rocroi” that took place in 1643. This may be one of the 4-digit portions of
the combination to the safe. Now speak to Bontemps – if you play dumb, he will
tell you to find the other two dates by checking the ceiling in the Hall of
Mirrors.

Enter the Bassano Antechamber via
the door to the left of the usher, and go through to the Hall of Mirrors via the
door to the right of the fireplace. Walk to the centre of the Hall, and look up
to the ceiling. Find the two hot spots and, using the spyglass, read the two
dates supplied. Note that one painting mentions the battle of Aix-la-Chapelle
(1668), but the other (dated 1674) doesn’t mention the name “Bescancon”
anywhere.

The
Best Laid Plans…

Return to the Guard Room, and leave
the palace once more for the Minister’s building. Return to the room with the
safe, and enter the three dates in order according to the battle names as listed
on the sheet from the desk: 1643 (Rocroi), 1668 (Aix-la-Chapelle), and 1674 (Bescancon).
Now grab the handle of the safe and pull it open.

Pick up the two plans from the
safe, exit the office, and enter Croissy’s office across the landing. Approach
the desk, and look at the plan of the fortress. Place the two other plans from
the safe over top of this this one, and a message in red should appear on the
plan “The Cock and the Diamond” (if this doesn’t work, try putting the plans on
in the reverse order).

Return to the palace, and travel to
the Guard Room. On your way past her rooms, the Marquise de Maintenon stops you
and asks that you bring another pamphlet to Bontemps. Approach Bontemps and
show him the new Pamphlet “E”.

Act V: The
King at Workfinds the King at work in the
Marquise de Maintenon’s apartments (what kind of work is that, pray tell?),
while the other court toadies are relaxing on the other side of the palace.

You begin this next stage of the
day in the Salon of Mars. The Cardinal standing to the left of the table has
“no time for you”, the conversation to the right of the table is a tad tedious,
and the “ugly” royal in the centre isn’t saying anything. Click on the painting
behind the Cardinal’s head, and note the piece of paper to the right of the
painting. Grab it to read – it mentions that secrets will be revealed in the
“dwelling place of Jupiter”.

Exit the room via the door to the
left of the Cardinal, and enter the Salon of Diana. Listen to the conversation
here, and then click on the plans lying on the billiards table. If you compare
the plans, you will note that the Salon of War was once named the Salon of
Jupiter – Bingo!

True Confessions

Make your way over to the Salon of
Abundance, and enter the Chapel balcony via the door to the right of the
windows. Have a look around, return to the Salon of Venus, and proceed through
the door to the Ambassador’s Staircase. Descend to the bottom of the stairs,
turn to your left, and enter the Chapel.

Proceed directly to the Sacristy,
which is located to the right of the Chapel’s altar. Once inside, click on the
set of 12 small drawers directly in front of you. Search each drawer in turn.
In the top row, the 3rd drawer from the right yields an engraving of
Louis XIV. In the bottom row, the 2nd drawer from the left contains
another small key, and the 3rd drawer from the right is empty. Now
look on the floor to the left of the door – you should spot a cord to be placed
in your inventory.

Return to the Chapel, and take the
staircase to the Salon of Venus (go right at the landing). Speak to Bontemps,
who is standing along one of the walls. Ask him about the Salon of Jupiter
business (even though we’ve already figured this out!). Now return to the
Chapel via the Staircase, and enter the Sacristy again. The creepy-looking Pere
de la Chaize is hovering in the back left corner of the room. Show him the
religious-themed Pamphlet E, and he is able to fill in the third blank for us –
“so-called reformed religion”.

Chaize doesn’t know what the other
two blanks are, recommending we speak to the Cardinal about it. Return to the
Salon area, and go to the Salon of Mars. Show the Cardinal Pamphlet E – tell
him Chaize sent us – and he identifies the second blank as “dragonnades”. In
true Versailles fashion, he sends us back to Chaize to get the last blank.
Return to the Sacristy, and show the Pamphlet to Chaize once again. He asks for
more clues to solve the last blank, so show him the engraving, and he gets it –
“king’s evil”.

Confirm the results with Chaize,
and proceed back up-stairs to the Salon of Venus to show Bontemps the completed
Pamphlet E. The underlined portions of the note now spell out “The dragon and
the file”.

Dancing on the Ceiling

Proceed to the Salon of War to
learn about our plotter’s secrets. Someone has drawn the large curtain across
the main windows, so grab the cord from your inventory, and click on the curtain
to tie it up. Now grab the ladder and place it into your inventory. It may be
useful to climb the scaffolding on the far wall, so place the ladder on the
scaffolding hotspot, and climb to the ceiling. Click on the chandelier for a
close-up – there’s a rolled-up document shoved into the chandelier, but we
cannot get close enough to snag it.

Descend to the floor again, and
return to the Salon of Venus to consult with Bontemps. Ask him about the
chandelier, and he gives you a key to the attic – this will allow you to lower
the chandelier. Proceed to the Salon of Apollo, and approach the secret door in
the back corner. Once through, go straight ahead to the bottom of a spiral
staircase. For a quick laugh, enter the doorway straight ahead, and click on
the treasure chest-looking item to see how the people of that day dealt with
their doo-doo (umm…where’s the sink?).

Exit the closet, and proceed up the
stairs to your left. Use Bontemp’s key to open the low door, and step through.
Once inside, turn to your left, and go down the corridor ahead. After coming to
a stop, enter the opening to your left – you will see a very strange looking box
suspended from the ceiling. The box is inaccessible for now, so return to the
corridor, travel back to your starting point, and proceed straight ahead to
enter the attic above the Salon of war.

Take a Memo

The chandelier is attached to a
winch that is used to raise and lower the installation. Click on the winch to
begin the process…and watch in horror as the whole thing falls to the floor.
The diminutive king will not be happy with us. Return to the attic access
point, exit via the low door, descend the stairs and exit the back corridor to
the Salon of Apollo. Now go into the Salon of War – the rolled document can now
be easily placed into your inventory.

The memorandum contains a series of
8 letter codes, and a message at the bottom indicating there are 4 small keys to
be found. We’ve retrieved 3 of them, but have not found the one hidden in one
of the orange trees. On your way through the Salon of Apollo, try searching the
orange trees and their containers – no luck. [There are orange trees in the
Hall of Mirrors as well, but we can’t currently access that part of the palace.]

Return to Bontemps in the Salon of
Venus, tell him about the damage to the chandelier, and show him the
Memorandum. He suggests we check out the Orangie to look for the fourth key
while the King takes his stroll. He also gives us a summary sheet of the secret
messages we’ve collected so far (plus a few new ones).

The
Fabled Maze

Act VI:
The Promenade in the Gardens places you in the Orangie surrounded
by numerous miniature orange trees. Before you start a long and “fruitless” (heh,
heh) search, speak to the head gardener Le Notre. To locate him, turn 90
degrees to your right, walk towards the corner of the building, turn 90 degrees
to your left, and move ahead two steps. The gardener is standing to your
right. Don’t bother praising his Orangie – he sees right through your
flattery. He has not seen any keys here, and suggests you check the trees in
the palace. Take his advice and give up your search.

Proceed past the gardener (to the
left) to enter the garden’s maze. The maze contains a number of statues
depicting scenes from some of Aesop’s fables, the titles of which will sound
very similar to the secret messages you’ve been deciphering. Each statue has a
verse displayed on a plaque in front of it. You are to use the 8 codes in the
memo to select letters that make up a secret message. One problem though – we
don’t whether the order of the 8 messages as listed on Bontemps’ summary sheet
matches the order on the memorandum.

To determine the correct order, we
must first find the maze’s gazebo. From the maze entrance, take the following
path:

Go left of
the statue in front of you

Move a bit to
the left, and go straight ahead

Move a bit to
your right, and go straight ahead

Go straight
ahead

Go straight
ahead

Bad
Case of Gas

You should now be standing inside
the gazebo. Engage the Duc de Maine in conversation – he babbles on about
viewing the maze in the proper order. Once he’s finished, back away from the
gazebo one step, and then return again immediately. Speak to the brat again –
now his belly is aching, and he needs his medicine from the apothecary (oh,
boy). Apparently he’s too proper to just let it rip.

The Apothecary is located on the
other side of the Orangie. Exit the maze taking the following path:

Leave the
gazebo to the right of the Duc

Go straight

Go straight

Move a touch
to the left, and go straight

Move a touch
to the right, and go straight

Now exit the maze to your right.
Cross the Orangie by proceeding straight for two paces. Now look behind you to
the right to spot a rake-like tool lying on the ground behind one of the tree
pots. Pick it up, pan back to your original direction, and continue out of the
Orangie to the Apothecary.

Inside the Apothecary, face the
wall to the right of the doorway, and click on the 3rd vase from the
left on the 3rd shelf from the bottom. This is the Duc’s Rose
Syrup. Exit the Apothecary, cross the Orangie, and enter the maze again. Use
the directions noted above to return to the Gazebo, and give the bastard-prince
his medicine (he really is a bastard – check his bio!). He is eternally
grateful, feeling better almost immediately. Once he departs, pick up the paper
lying on the bench – a map of the maze (your current position is marked with a
blue circle).

A
Sort of Fable

In order to sort the 8 fable titles
that Bontemps gave us, we must compare his list with the map of the maze. There
are 15 statues present in the maze – the roman numerals marked on the map
indicate the order in which they should be visited. Rearranging Bontemp’s list
we get:

II: The Cock and the Diamond

III: The Cats and the Rats

IV: The Dragon and the File

V: The Fox and the Crane

IX: The Hawk and the Little Birds

X: The Frogs and Jupiter

XII: The Mouse, the Cat and the
Little Cock

XV: The Ducks and the Spaniel

You must now
visit each of the eight statues, using the notes on the memorandum to select
letters that will make up the extra special secret message from your enemy
(wouldn’t it be easier for villains if they didn’t leave us ANY hints? Hmm…).

Just Visiting

Use the directions above to get
yourself back to the beginning of the maze, and use the following steps to visit
each statue. Use the map if you get lost.

II: The Cock and the Diamond

Getting there: - From
entrance, go to the right of the statue

- Move a bit to
the right and go straight

Memo: - Line 1 Letters 16, 34:
I, T

- Line 2 Letter 10: I

- Line 3 Letters 1,
34, 37: S, N, O

- Line 4 Letter 10: T

Message portion:
IT IS NOT

III: The Cats and the Rats

Getting there: - From statue,
take the 2nd passage to the right

Memo: - Line 4 Letters 1, 19: I,
N

Message portion:
IN

IV: The Dragon and the File

Getting there: - From statue,
take the first passage to the right

- Go straight

Memo: - Line 2 4th
Word: THE

Message portion:
THE

V: The Fox and the Crane

Getting there: - From statue,
take the first passage to the left

- Make sure you
have the Fox and the Crane, not the Crane and the Fox

Memo: - Line 2 Letter 27: P

- Line 3 Letters 13,
16: O, W

- Line 4 Letters 9,
15: E, R

Message portion:
POWER

IX: The Hawk and the Little
Birds

Getting there: - From Fox and
Crane statue, take the 2nd passage to the left

- Move a bit to
the right and go straight

- Move a bit to
the right and go straight

Memo: - Line 3 Letters 20, 34:
O, F

Message portion:
OF

X: The Frogs and Jupiter

Getting there: - From statue,
take the first passage to the right

Memo: - Line 4 4th
Word + Letter 14: KING, S

- Line 2 5th
Word: TO

Message portion:
KINGS TO

XII: The Mouse, the Cat and the
Little Cock

Getting there: - From statue,
take the first passage to the left

- Turn 90
degrees to the left, go straight

- Go straight

- Turn 90
degrees to the right, go straight

- Go straight

- Turn 90
degrees to the left and go straight

Memo: - Line 1 Letters 3, 4, 6,
8: A, T, T, A

- Line 3 Letters 4,
25: I, N

Message portion:
ATTAIN

XV: The Ducks and the Spaniel

Getting there: - From statue,
take first passage to the left

- Go straight

- From Wolf
statue, take the first passage to the right

Memo: - Line 1 Letters 11, 22,
27: P, E, R

- Line 2 Letters
4, 9, 22, 34: F, E, C, T

- Line 3 Letters
6, 19: I, O

- Line 4 Letter 5: N

Message portion:
PERFECTION

Final message:
IT IS NOT IN THE POWER OF KINGS TO ATTAIN PERFECTION

Ready, Set, Go

Return to the start of the maze,
where Bontemps is waiting to the left of the exit. The game cautions you that
you may not have competed everything needed to solve the game yet - but trust
me, you have. Bontemps himself warns you that you will not be allowed back into
the maze again. Reassure him you are finished and ready to move on.

Act VII:
From Supper to Bedtime finds the King and his entourage dining in
the gardens, and then returning to the palace to dismiss the court, and go to
bed. As per the custom, our visiting dignitary, the Marquis de Scaparella, is
given the honour of holding the candles for the King. All of a sudden, he
tosses the mess into the fireplace, and skips out the window.

The remainder of
the game must be completed within a 5 minute time period (the clock in the upper
right corner of the screen will count the seconds down for you).

Exit the King’s chamber via the
door to the left of the windows and enter the King’s Salon. Turn to your left –
you should see a long candle snuffer leaning up against the wall here. Grab the
snuffer and proceed to the Hall of Mirrors (the central door in the wall with
three doorways). Turn to your left, and move in that direction down the Hall.

Turn to your right, and stop at the
first orange tree you see. Grab the garden tool from your inventory and click
on the pot that the tree sits in – this yields the last of the four small keys.
Exit the hall via the secret door in the mirror (off to your left) and enter the
Bassano Antechamber. Take out your candle from inventory and click on the
roaring fire to light it. Grab the lit candle from inventory and click on the
doors to the right of the windows to gain entry to the back staircase.

At the top of the spiral staircase,
open the door here and step through. Turn to your right and proceed down the
corridor. Once you come to a stop, turn to your right and enter the low
doorway. You are once again viewing that strange box, actually a bomb, hanging
from the ceiling. Grab the candle snuffer from inventory, and click on the bomb
to bring it closer to you.

The four small keys must be
inserted in order into the bomb to allow you to input the secret maze message.
The first key goes in the left keyhole, with the other three inserted from left
to right. The keys 1 through 4 are marked as such in your inventory. Once the
keys are inserted, you get a close-up of the lettering panel. Just click on the
letter (or blank space) in each square to change the value. You should end up
with something that looks like this:

I

T

I

S

N

O

T

I

N

T

H

E

P

O

W

E

R

O

F

K

I

N

G

S

T

O

A

T

T

A

I

N

P

E

R

F

E

C

T

I

O

N

If you complete this last task in
the allotted 5 minutes, the bomb is safely diffused, and the King is ever so
grateful. Remember not to call him “shorty”, or ask him if he played Jorge
Valdez in Tex Murphy Overseer.

If your time expires without
finishing the last tasks, Versailles burns. Very sad.